Kristina M. D'Amico

Director at HVS Miami

Kristina D’Amico is a Director in the HVS Miami office. Her expertise spans consulting and valuation for both existing and proposed hotels and resorts throughout South Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Kristina’s significant international consulting and appraising experience includes assets in the Caribbean Basin across 16 Caribbean islands, as well as the Riviera Maya region of Mexico and various countries in Latin America. In particular, due to her creative thinking abilities and her skill with complex projects, she has an extensive background in consulting and valuation of proposed and existing all-inclusive resorts, as well as mixed-use resorts with a residential component. She is a state-certified general real estate appraiser and is working through the final requirements for her MAI designation. Contact Kristina at (305) 378-0404 Ext. 1016 or [email protected]

The Caribbean islands have long been established as a popular travel destination for U.S., Canadian, and European travelers. Tourism to the islands is highly dependent upon the availability of transportation.

While last year's CHICOS focused on the Caribbean region following the immediate aftermath of the two devastating back-to-back hurricanes, this year's CHICOS theme, "A New Day in the Sun," discussed the positive attributes that stemmed from these tragedies of one year prior.

It has been one year since the most dynamic, active, and destructive hurricane period hit the Caribbean in decades. Despite the devastating effect to the region, the resiliency of the Caribbean hotel market has been demonstrated particularly well over the last year, spurred by a strong recovery effort and bolstered by an influx of new airlift to the region.

With U.S. and global attention focused on the Caribbean region following two record-breaking hurricanes that hurled through the region in September, the timing of CHICOS less than two months later opened the door to educated conversations within our industry.

When Ebola struck the Sub-Saharan continent in the summer of 2014, thousands of travelers canceled their safari plans in South Africa, resulting in an immediate decline of multimillions of dollars given the tourist cancelations.